Mahindra SmartShift merges with Porter to grab a bigger share in logistics industry

SmartShift by Mahindra announced today that it will merge its business with Resfeber Labs' Porter, for increasing its share in the Indian logistics industry. 

SmartShift, a technology-enabled load exchange platform, began its operations in October 2015, the company acts as an exchange platform for cargo owners and transporters, enabling them to work with each other. Cargo owners (both businesses and individual users) can access the SmartShift service through a mobile app (available on Android), the website or the dedicated call centre. 

The company announced its intent to merge with Porter by Resfeber Labs, which is India's leading tech-enabled logistic solutions provider in the goods transportation space. It was founded in 2014 by IIT alumni Pranav Goel, Uttam Digga and Vikas Chaudhary. Porter currently has 10000+ vehicles on its platform and has done 15,00,000 deliveries in the last 3 years. The company is backed by Sequoia and Kae capital. The company currently operates in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai & Hyderabad and plans to expand to 15 other cities, including Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow and Coimbatore. The merger is subject to corporate and regulatory approvals.

Under the aegis of the merged identity, which would be called Mahindra SmartShift, 'Porter' and `SmartShift' will continue to serve their respective customers and partner-drivers to optimise greater operational efficiency. This merger will help both SmartShift and Porter to spread out to a pan-India presence in the shared mobility space. This consolidation is likely to strengthen the joint objectives of SmartShift and Porter within a reasonable time frame.

Mahindra would invest around Rs 65 crore in the two entities which reinforces the group's commitment to this space. Pranav Goel will be the CEO of Mahindra SmartShift while Kausalya Nandakumar will serve as the interim Co-CEO to ensure a smooth transition and integration of both the companies. Speaking on the announcement, Anish Shah, chairman, Mahindra SmartShift said, " Being part of our diversified group while working on a young entrepreneurship culture has been our mantra for SmartShift. Our new association with Porter will be a win-win for both companies and will definitely cement our position in the ever-growing shared mobility space."

Pranav Goel, co-founder, Porter said: "The synergies between our business modules and this association with Mahindra will further boost the confidence of our stakeholders.With this, Porter has now done a cumulative fundraise of more than $20 million (Rs 123 crores)."

According to a report, the logistics industry in India is pegged at $130 billion (about Rs 8.4 lakh crore) with 35-40 percent of it being in the intra-city space. It is also estimated that around 18 lakh small commercial vehicles complete millions of transactions daily, across the country.